Ryo Nagamatsu

Ryo Nagamatsu
永松亮
Born (1982-10-25) October 25, 1982
Occupations
  • Composer
  • pianist
  • sound designer
Years active2006–present
Employers
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentPiano
Websitehttp://rh-music.co.jp/

Ryo Nagamatsu (Japanese: 永松亮, Hepburn: Nagamatsu Ryō; born 25 October 1982[1]) is a Japanese composer who primarily works on video game music. Formerly employed by Nintendo, he is currently the CEO of RH Music Co., Ltd.[2]

Nagamatsu has worked as a composer on a number of major Nintendo franchises, including Mario Kart Wii, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Splatoon 3.

Biography

Nagamatsu began to play the piano from a young age. In 2006, he won the Composition Award for his piece "The Day the World Warms Up" at the "Record-Con" music contest organised by Shimamura Music.[3]

Following his graduation from Sasebo College in 2006, Nagamatsu was hired to Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development division as a part of its sound team. That year, he contributed his first score to a video game with Wii Play, working alongside Shinobu Nagata. The subsequent year, he composed the entirety of the soundtrack for Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree. The title track from this game was later released physically as a part of the Touch! Generations soundtrack CD, which was made available through the Club Nintendo customer loyalty program.

In 2008, he composed the music for Mario Kart Wii alongside Asuka Hayazaki, serving as his first work on the Mario franchise. Nagamatsu created around half of the course themes as well as the battle themes. He also created some of the sound effects for the game, most notably for the kart horns.[4] This was followed by composing for New Super Mario Bros. Wii the subsequent year, working with sound director Kenta Nagata and Shiho Fujii.[5] In 2010, he composed for Super Mario Galaxy 2 with Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota, who both composed for the previous Super Mario Galaxy. This was his first work on an orchestral score, having desired to compose orchestral music since he joined, particularly after Super Mario Galaxy also included orchestral music.[6] He found the experience particularly stressful to the point he struggled to sleep at night.[7]

In 2012, he scored Nintendo Land. As it includes minigames based on existing Nintendo franchises, the game features several arrangements of music from the respective franchises. It also includes a number of original compositions, particularly for the Octopus Dance minigame based on the Game & Watch game Octopus, as the original game did not include music. He was given a deal of creative freedom, while having original composers such as Kondo review his tracks and provide feedback.[8][9][10] He also composed for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, which also includes a number of arrangements of music from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. While the music features an orchestral style, he stated that using a live orchestra was never considered due to the reverberation and low pitch sounds produced that would be unsuitable for the Nintendo 3DS speakers, although he performed the recorder on tracks that play in the Milk Bar.[11]

In addition to his work as a composer, he has also engaged in film production. In 2017, he won the Next Sphere Award at the Toyama International Film Festival for his short film Yamabikoyama, in which he served as lead actor, screenwriter, director, composer, sound effects designer, and editor.[12]

In 2019, he arranged and composed new music for The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, a remake of the 1993 game of the same name for the Game Boy. He utilized a small orchestra of live performers, stating that a large one would not have fit the visuals.[13]

On 30 April 2023, Nagamatsu resigned from Nintendo and established RH Music Co., Ltd.,[14][15][16] becoming its representative director.

Works

Year Title Notes Ref.
2006 Wii Play Music with Shinobu Nagata
2007 Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree Music
2008 Mario Kart Wii Music with Asuka Hayazaki [4]
2009 Wii Sports Resort Music
New Super Mario Bros. Wii Music with Kenta Nagata and Shiho Fujii [5]
2010 Super Mario Galaxy 2 Music with Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo [7]
2011 Press Start: Symphony of Games Concert; orchestral arrangements of tracks from Super Mario Galaxy 2 [17]
2012 Nintendo Land Music [8]
2013 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Music [11]
2014 Mario Kart 8 Music with Atsuko Asahi, Shiho Fujii, and Yasuaki Iwata
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U Arrangements with various others
2015 The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes Music
2016 Tank Troopers Music
2017 Splatoon 2 Music with Toru Minegishi and Shiho Fujii
2018 Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion Music with Toru Minegishi
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Arrangements with various others
2019 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Music [13]
2020 Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Music
2022 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass DLC; music with various others
Splatoon 3 Music with various others
2024 Splatoon 3: Side Order Music with various others
The Strongest Tofu Music [18]
2025 Tribe Nine Music with Masafumi Takada [19]
HYKE:Northern Light(s) Music with Yasuaki Iwata and Reo Uratani
Hello Kitty Skyland Music
2026 Denshattack! Music with various others

References

  1. ↑ "Ryo Nagamatsu's official Twitter account". Twitter. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  2. ↑ Nagamatsu, Ryō (1 May 2023). "Ryo Nagamatsu on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  3. ↑ "受賞者アーカイブ – 録れコン". Shimamura Music (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 "All About Mario Kart Wii". Nintendo DREAM (in Japanese). Vol. 171. April 2008. p. 75.
  5. 1 2 Napolitano, Jayson (2 February 2010). "Sound Director Kenta Nagata Talks New Super Mario Bros. Wii". Original Sound Version.
  6. ↑ "Volume 1 : The Music". Nintendo. 2010.
  7. 1 2 "Iwata Asks: Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Volume 3". Nintendo. 2010.
  8. 1 2 Napolitano, Jayson (22 January 2013). "An aural tour with the composer of Nintendo Land, part 1". Destructoid.
  9. ↑ Napolitano, Jayson (23 January 2013). "An aural tour with the composer of Nintendo Land, part 2". Destructoid.
  10. ↑ Napolitano, Jayson (24 January 2013). "An aural tour with the composer of Nintendo Land, part 3". Destructoid.
  11. 1 2 "The Making of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds". Official Nintendo Magazine. 15 March 2014. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "やまびこ山｜富山映像大賞（旧富山水辺の映像祭）". www.thinktoyama.jp. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  13. 1 2 "Find out about how the music of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was created with music composer Ryo Nagamatsu!". The Legend of Zelda ™: Link’s Awakening game for the Nintendo Switch™ system – Official Site. 2019.
  14. ↑ Nagamatsu, Ryō (1 May 2023). "Ryō Nagamatsu on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 17 December 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Zelda, Splatoon composer Ryo Nagamatsu announces departure from Nintendo". Nintendo Wire. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  16. ↑ Moyse, Chris (2 May 2023). "Nintendo composer Ryo Nagamatsu has departed the studio". Destructoid. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  17. ↑ "【詳報】ゲーム音楽のオーケストラコンサート"PRESS START 2011"東京公演リポート！". ファミ通.com (in Japanese). 6 September 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  18. ↑ "Phoenixx、『スゴイツヨイトウフ』Steam 版を配信開始…とうふマイスターが制作した唯一無二のとうふアクションゲーム | gamebiz". gamebiz【ゲームビズ】 (in Japanese). Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  19. ↑ "『スプラ3』などで知られる作曲家・永松亮氏が、『ダンガンロンパ』クリエイター陣の新作『トライブナイン』に参加！1stトレイラー楽曲を担当". Game*Spark – 国内・海外ゲーム情報サイト (in Japanese). 6 June 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.